Requiem for a flyweight

Al Gore’s soon-to-be-defunct Current TV should serve as a case study for American progressives on how not to construct a media outlet. It was a failure in nearly all respects, with possibly its only lasting contribution the fact that its sale to Al Jazeera may finally give that important media voice from the Islamic world a foothold in the United States.

The biggest error committed by Gore and his partner Joel Hyatt occurred at Current’s founding in 2004-05 when the project intentionally ducked what was then the most important fight underway for the future of America, whether President George W. Bush’s strategy for a permanent Republican majority would go unchallenged.

Yeah, that and firing Keith Olbermann, who brought them an instant audience of several hundred thousand even if he is a prima donna and PITA. Now Al Jazeera, which constantly has to thread the needle with the US, is sure to back off controversy for fear of being accused of meddling in American politics. Maybe they’ll do some nice international documentaries or something.

Al Gore made $100M off the sale of Current TV. I sure hope he uses it more wisely than he did his investment on Current. I wonder, more and more, whether he really was up to the job of being president.

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This entry was posted on January 4, 2013 at 1:29 pm and is filed under Al Gore, Keith Olbermann.
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7 Responses to “Requiem for a flyweight”

And Time Warner’s now dumped Current, literally hours after the sale — and right in the middle of Eliot Spitzer’s program — rather than risk carrying one of the few things that’s even close to an honest purveyor of news about the world in general and the Middle East in particular. (They say they “might consider” bringing it back. Yeah, sure they might. Not.)

Stormcrowsaid

Al Gore made $100M off the sale of Current TV. I sure hope he uses it more wisely than he did his investment on Current. I wonder, more and more, whether he really was up to the job of being president.

Of course he wasn’t.

Neither party has had a candidate worth his weight in horsecrap for the last 50 years.

The Republicans, these days, simply add a layer of insanity on top of the usual incompetence.

Well, I try to keep in mind some of the winners we had in days of yore, Stormcrow. John Tyler. Franklin Pierce. Warren Harding. Andrew Johnson. Millard Fillmore.

But the presidency is–especially post-World War II– a big job. It requires people who have both extraordinary talent and personal convictions. Florida 2000 represented the death of American democracy. It was a moment to fight. Al Gore chose not to do so. At the time, I was persuaded that he backed off in the mistaken belief that it was for the good of the country, that we would have a chance later on to fight on better terrain. But he did not do so.

My guess is that he just never quite grew up, never quite got out from under the shadow of his father. He now puts out the line that “Losing the presidency in 2000 had induced a kind of post-traumatic stress syndrome in him and other family members; some of the children had nightmares and anxiety dreams involving that campaign.” Because he did not stand up and fight, the country, of course underwent a nightmare of its own.

jo6pacsaid

I suspect that he would have considered it (and would still consider it) the height of arrogance to think — much less to say out loud — that the survival of the nation depended on his entering the White House in 2000. He was not brought up to think of himself that way — unlike, say, any of the scions of the Bush family, for whom public office wasn’t a sacred trust but a perk of being born into a rich and dynastic family.

This, coupled with the constant pressure of the Beltway Bubble, pushed him to avoid “creating chaos” as the media put it then and now. (In fact, a number of media sources were irritated at him for not conceding the morning after, but fighting for a whole month and a half afterward.)